scrap,cards,chat and chocolate

A beautiful day

2012-02-10T08:09:00.002+11:00

This layout is from a trip to Marysville last year. We went to see the Falls as they had been reopened and we amazed at the change.The first time we went (pre fires) you couldn't see all of the falls from any one spot because the the foliage. Now you can see it from almost any angle. The new viewing platforms are great for picture taking. The flowers are from outside of the bakery.

The papers from this layout are a mixture of Kaiser and Papermania.
Stickers - Papermania
The doily die cut is from Cheery Lynn
Good times chipboard accent is a very old one from Heidi Swapp
Buttons from stash.

Up, up and away in my beautiful, my beautiful balloon

2012-01-24T21:31:00.000+11:00

Before Christmas, Lauren and Damien left home very early one Saturday morning and headed over to Yarra Glen for a balloon flight over the Yarra Valley. They had a fabulous time, even if it was a bit of a chilly start. I have tried to capture something of that day in my layout.

The mountainscape was cut on my Silhoutte
The cloud are cut with a PTI die
The Chipboard balloon are by Scrap FX

Life's a beach

2012-01-20T09:00:00.000+11:00

Another beach layout for Lauren, this time at Sorrento.I have used mostly Basic Grey - Marrakech . The title is from a craft kit I picked up in Kmart , the blue and yellow embellishments are Inspirables Stone stickers from EK Success. Lastly the waves on the bottom corners of the layout are Kaiser.

Summer Fun

2012-01-17T09:00:00.000+11:00

This is a layout of Lauren and her boyfriend during the Christmas break They were at Point Nepean. Her boyfriend's family have a beach House down on the coast so she spent a couple of weeks down there.

The patterned paper is from Kaiser, the flowers and brads - Stampin Up!The chipboard element is from MME - Fine and Dandy

The banners are also from the same MME range

The transparency is from Hambly Studios

Catching up with Christmas

2012-01-15T17:43:00.003+11:00

I have been having some much anticipated time off work recently and this has enabled me to catch up with my scrapping. I have caught up with Xmas 2008, 2010and 2011. For some reason I had already scrapped 2009.

I have created the border at the bottom of the layout by using this memory box die - Crisp bows. I cut them out and just removed the stalk, adhered them as close as possible to the strip of patterned paper and voila! It looks just like a border punch. I have to agree a border punch would have been easier but it does add an extra use to your ordinary dies. I will be looking at some of my others in a new light now. I will be getting a range of these dies in on my website soon. I will keep you posted.

My little princess

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000+11:00

Here is a layout I recently completed of Holly attending her Year 8 princess camp. What a great idea this is, taking the girls away for a pampering weekend. It builds self esteem, pride and respect for themselves. The parents were contacted in secret prior to the event and asked to write a letter to their daughter. It was to say what they meant to you and your hopes for them in the future. The letter were posted off to be handed to your daughter during the event. Holly tells me there wasn't a dry eye in the room when all the girls were given their letters and they sat down privately to read them.

The papers are from a Rouge de garance collection all about fairytales. The leaf pattern is from Prima and is part of a pack of 37 pieces of Resistant Canvas, which I have inked over to reveal the resist pattern. Looks fab, doesn't it? This pack was part of my Christmas pressie from Leanne.

Badger weir

2012-01-07T09:00:00.000+11:00

This is a layout of Holly from a few years back. We had visitors from England and South Australia staying with us and took them to a local beauty spot for the afternoon. the weather was perfect and Holly enjoyed playing in the shallow waters.

The papers that I have cut the flowers, leaves and die cuts from are by Adorn It Carolees Creations - Misty Collection.

The lovely flourish die cut is from My Favourite Things.

The others dies are from Sizzix and Marianne's Creatables.

Following on from my previous post

2012-01-05T10:55:00.001+11:00

Here are my dear friend's Christine, Leanne and Judy (apologies to Judy, the only photo I have of everyone and the pressies in one where her eyes are shut). As you can see the table was full of pretty packages just demanding to be opened.

Here are a couple of the shopping list holders I made, I purchase the actual pads and then made strong decorated backings for them that can either be hung on a hook or a metallic surface with the magnets that I have attached to the reverse.

This last item is a sack I made for Father Christmas. Every year he arrives at the Community Christmas Celebration we have at the local Hall where I work. The CFA kindly bring him on the back of their truck to see the assembled children. I thought it was about time old FC has a pressie of his own and this year the usual pillow case was replaced with a much more fitting sack.

Chrissy pressies

2012-01-03T11:48:00.001+11:00

Just before Christmas my stamping buddies and I went out for afternoon tea at a golf club in our area. Our table was festooned with decorated bags and wonderful gifts we had for each other.The snowmen above were one of my gifts to my friends. Each contained two bars of delicious Lindt chocolate. I downloaded a free PDF here with the snowman's face and body and then made the hat and scarf with felt, buttons, ribbon, bells and twine.
I received some wonderful presents in return which I will show later. I had planned a longer post, but taxi duties call as Holly and a friend need delivering to various places to meet other friends.
Hope you all had a good Christmas and a happy and healthy New year

So proud

2011-12-20T23:22:00.000+11:00

We are very proud of our oldest daughter Lauren who graduated today with a Bachelor of Science degree. It has been three long years of study but today made that all worthwhile. Well done Lauren! She now wants to go on and do her masters in physiotherapy.
To clear up any confusion (as per my discussion on Sunday when some dear friends and I had our Christmas lunch) Bachelor degrees - no hat, Masters - mortar board, Doctorate - a bonnet with red trim.

Feeling Krafty

2011-12-09T09:00:00.000+11:00

I love the colour combo of kraft (crumb cake) and cherry cobbler. This card came together very quickly, with the help of a new stamp set Fabulous Florets and leaves from Paper trey ink.

The casing of Judy May

2011-12-07T18:44:00.002+11:00

Judy made a beautiful card here, it was so stunning I just had to have a go at making one myself.
I have varied mine slightly by not having the sentiment on the bottom of the card
I was so happy with it that I just had to make more.
I substituted glitter paper with shimmery ones for this card.

Toolangi Castella festival

2011-11-20T08:55:00.003+11:00

Last weekend was the Toolangi Castella festival, which started with a BBQ and a band playing and then the moonlight cinema. The film was Avatar and it was played outside on the local oval surrounded by bushland, which really couldn't have been a better setting. The day had been very warm. So as the sun went down, it cooled considerably and coats or blankets were the order of the day as well as the obligatory insect repellent.

Many months of planning and organising went in to make this such a successful event, it is part of my job to help with these community activities. Volunteers arrived on the Saturday to help erect all the marquees, man the BBQ, erect the stage and direct traffic and car parking. These types of local events, on very meagre budgets would never run without the enthusiastic help offered by such generous people.

The following day all the activities followed, there was the reptile tent where you could get up close and personal with snakes and crocs (not my cup of tea). The bush babies were a great draw for children and adults alike, with lots of aahhhh moments. The adorable little ( I say little, because he was only a few months old but weighed 20kgs) wombat, who was lapping up all the attention. The Toolangi Castella Youth Group had a great stall and were running apple bobbing, eating doughnuts on a string in the air with your hands behind your back, estimating the jelly beans in a jar games, lucky dip etc. There was a tethered hot air balloon, entertainment going on all day, dancing, singing, a velcro wall for those energetic souls who wish to don a non flattering suit and jump as high as they can and stick to the wall and jumping castles for the smaller adventurers. A horse drawn cart with seating brought festival goes from the assigned parking to the reserve as well as a small minivan for those who wanted to get to the action sooner. There were free massage sessions on offer all day as well as an array of craft stalls. I had my little card stall, selling cards (what else), gift bags, tags, bottle tags, decorated food bags etc. I had prepared a sampling of all my wares, to tempt passers by, in an orange and pink theme (pumpkin pie and rose red to my SU buddies). A friend had very kingly loaned me her pillow box die and scalloped envelope die ( which I used to make the sweet/lolly boxes), the pendant boxes I made from my own template. The weather was very kind to us on the day ( it had been raining for weeks prior) and only started to drizzle as the festival was winding down at 4pm and the raffle was being drawn. There were twenty fab prizes, including a bike, a weekend stay, cases of wine, meals at wineries, tickets to an event of your choice at Rochford winery, tickets to the Australian Ballet, hampers from delis and farms, I could go on and on, but I will spare you. I didn't win anything, (but then again I never do, I am a very unlucky person in that regard) but I knew plenty of those who did.

I sold many cards and a few bags and even some of my demo items from the tree. All in all it was a great weekend. I was completely pooped in the evening though, after moving tables and chairs, erecting and dismantling marquees and tiding up the oval, this lady was ready for her bed by 9.30pm.

Who's for wine?

2011-11-02T18:39:00.000+11:00

Here are just a couple of the wine bottle tags I have been making for Christmas. I cut them on my trusty silhoutte. The ornament is also a silhoutte design. I have also been having fun making the rosettes, I have a die for these but have downloaded another design for one from the silhoutte library (much cheaper than the die)!! The rosettes are a great way of using up scraps of leftover DSP.

Birthday Card

2011-10-31T18:28:00.004+11:00

Hi, long time no post! What's new I hear you cry. Sorry I am such a bad blogger.

I have a picture of a card a made recently for my good friend Judy's birthday. I can't take credit for the design which I copied( I varied it just a little) from Card Making and Papercrafts magazine. Judy's card benefitted from a trial run I had last month making it for another friend's birthday. I made sure this had no ends of paper showing and the table legs turned out a lot better this time too. I really love the design though and it wasn't nearly as fiddly as I had anticipated.

Here is something I made earlier.

2011-08-17T08:18:00.003+10:00

Too long ago (we must do it again), my friends came for a stamp over, much laughter, food consumption ( chocolate, obviously) and to be honest very little creating, ensued! Christine however was very busy getting her convention swaps ready, punching up a storm and kindly bequeathed me all the bits she punched but didn't need, saying " I know you will make something with these". Well here they are. Flowers!
I have cased one of the cards in the new catalogue (page 10), sadly I didn't have all the items used because they are not available yet so I improvised with my trusty Papertrey Ink supplies.
With the addition of a few punches of my own, I came up with five flowers.

Doesn't the centre of the one above remind you of a Rowntrees pastille? These are new from Kaisercraft and come in a range of colours.
This last flower is my favourite, however it is a bit big for a card so I will have to save it for a scrapbook page. Dashing off to work now although I would rather be in my craft room, ahh, such is life, we do need to eat after all!

Sketch challenge

2011-07-31T19:53:00.004+10:00

Decided to have a go at this sketch challenge from "Lets capture these sketches"

Loving my new silhouette, I cut the title, leaf flourishes and the doilies. The colours are typically bright and cheerful which you know I love. I wanted to capture the fun these two girls always have when they get together. They often end up giggling uncontrollably with their antics and the decibels go up considerably. You're only young once so you may as well enjoy it!

My first silhouette layout

2011-07-28T17:45:00.002+10:00

This layout was scheduled to appear yesterday morning, but Mr Blogger decided he had other plans and it seems to have disappeared into the ether.

I thought this title I purchased online from Silhouette was just right for these wacky pictures of Holly, she has this thing about taking photos of herself making silly faces, her friends seem to do it too. Personally I find it quite strange but then unfortunately ( or maybe it should be fortunately, I don't fancy doing the school thing again) I am not 14 and don't quite get it! I wonder what she will think when she looks back on them in years to come.

The June and 2011 are from Kerri Bradford

You're amazed aren't you?

2011-07-26T11:29:00.003+10:00

A new post finally!!!! Don't have much of an excuse other than work has been busy and I have been occupied with other things. I have however been scouring the internet for a bargain price Silhoutte SD

and now I have found one on Overstock.com. Great price approx $180 AUS with $56 postage which came by DHL so it was very quick and much cheaper than other sites who were just using the postal service. It came with a $10 download card so I have been busy downloading shapes to cut at 99c a go you can't complain about the price when you do have to pay.

More furry faces

2011-05-29T13:18:00.004+10:00

How could you resist this little face? This was the dilemma I faced when we went to visit the Alpaca farm during Alpaca month. Having given his lordship grief when he bought the first batch, here I was wanting more. Well I caved and had to have little "Ronnie" as I have nicknamed him. His real name is Geronimo. He was too young to come on his own so his mother Anaconda (Connie to her friends) came in tow.My only saving grace was I got a better deal than HL, my four (yes, there are more) came to considerably less than his. Ronnie also has a better quality coat than the others we have, so his fleece should elicit a bit more cash on sale.

Here are Ronnie and Connie
This was Holly's choice, real name Guilia but renamed as Gracie.
Joanne (Mum) and Gracie.
Joanne seems to be vying with Evita for the post of herd leader. HL now has trouble telling them apart as we have three adult white females, to be truthful he isn't much better with the babies even though they are vastly different. Holly and I of course know them all.

Better late than never

2011-05-14T09:00:00.000+10:00

This is Lauren's 21st and she will be 23 in July so it has taken a while for me to get around to scrapping the photos. It was very quiet affair, Lauren had only recently settled here in Australia after her sojourn to South Africa so didn't have any friends to invite making the evening an intimate family meal. She even made her own cake as she had sought out a recipe while trolling the internet cookery sites. If she is bored,Lauren loves to cook, however she prefers to have her day jam packed with activities and is through choice perpetually on the go thus earning her nickname of Energiser Bunny ( from friends).

Paper - Kaiser party Animals

Ticket die and stamps - Paper Trey ink

Die Cut letters Sizzix - Twang

21 - American Crafts Thickers

Bowl and Yummy Stickers - K and Co

Beautiful memories

2011-05-09T08:00:00.000+10:00

This photo is from a series we had taken just before we emigrated to Australia. I wanted some of the girls with my Mum and some of all of us together. I met the photographer through her scrapbooking work on one the the English magazines, she was exhibiting at a craft show and we got talking and she said that she ran a photography studio from her home only half and hour from our house. I booked us in right away and it was her suggestion that we all wore similar colours and I must say she was right it made for some really great shots. At the session, she had us bouncing on space hoppers (remember them from the late 60's), dressing up, wearing hats etc, she even featured Mum ( then 84) on her own blog with a picture of her on said space hopper, all in all it was a very fun day. I have scrapped all of these photos before but put them in an album I made for my Mum and some for myself. However this poor photo has been hanging around for a long while waiting for just the right paper and when Kaiser brought out the Chapter one collection and I knew I had found it.

Leaves and flourishes - Paper Trey ink stamps

Butterfly - Stamping Up

Black flowers - Maya Road ribbon

Epoxy "Laugh" circle - Cloud 9

Family Fun and Remember when - Purchased from K Mart (sorry I don't know the brand name)

Like Mother Like Daughter

2011-05-06T11:27:00.003+10:00

Here is a layout featuring me in the black and white photos and Holly in the coloured one, both of us riding donkeys on the same beach but almost 40 years apart. When I was little, my family would often holiday on the Kent coast not that far from our home in Essex. My Nan and Grandad would come too. One of the highlights for me was a donkey ride on Margate beach. Now with the passage of time the roads are so much better that it was a day trip to take Holly there and when I saw the donkeys again it brought back many happy memories. Holly of course wanted to have a ride like her Mum before her.

When you think about it, those poor donkeys must have been bored stiff with the repetitive nature of their day and having to put up with over enthusiastic kids all day long to boot.

Papers: Kaiser - Chapter one collection and American Crafts - City Park range

The furry foursome

2011-04-23T09:06:00.000+10:00

It was a usual Saturday, no expectation of anything world shattering about to occur, other than the fact that I was off for the day to do part 2 of my first aid course, and let's be honest that isn't really "up there" in terms of global events . However I was looking forward to it. When I returned home 6 hours later the house was quiet except for my canine reception committee who were very eager to see me. After settling down to a cup of tea and getting lost in the story of my recently purchased Dean Koontz book, my reverie was interrupted by an ebullient daughter bounding in to inform me that her father had just bought four alpacas. Just for an instant, I believed her and then I laughed and said "as if your Dad would do that without discussing it with me" (we always discuss things, so I was pretty confident). However she plowed on with the story of how they picked out the ones she wanted and how we had two females who were pregnant and two more 5 weeks old females. This story was starting to have legs (four of them as it happened) too much detail to be made up, then his lordship finally put in an appearance and confirmed that he had in fact made said purchase.Talk about gobsmacked! When I arose from my metaphorical heap on the floor, I fumed, not at the actual purchase ( they are pretty cute after all) but at the lack of discussion and investigation prior to such a big commitment - monetarily. That said I have come to quite like their little faces peering at me from the paddock, they are so nosey.

The two pregnant females were already named but their 5 week old offspring (wow, they don't get much time to recover do they?) were monikerless. Holly decided in her wisdom to call them Scrambled and Eggs, it is now on their birth certificates so no changing it.
Here is Scrambled
and her Mum Amber.
Here are Mum Evita and Eggs
The little furry foursome altogether.

I dedicate this long post to my friend Christine, because she has complained that my posts are too short. Don't get used to it my friend, it is not a guaranteed trend.

It's arrived

2011-04-20T08:53:00.000+10:00

At last, after languishing in customs for over a week, my PTI order is finally in my hot little stickies and I can't wait to use it. I really went to town on the die purchasing, they are so lovely and relatively cheap compared to other brands. I had my stamping buddies come over at the weekend (we did a group order to save on postage) so they had plenty to play with too. They arrived around 10.30am and didn't leave till gone 5pm but what with examining each others purchases, chatting and eating we really didn't seem to make much and before we knew it, it was time for them to leave and go and feed their families.

I am very pleased with how the button dies punch out of the coasters, almost giving the depth of a real button. No worries about sewing these little babies on to your layout or card, the cotton won't pull through.

Choccy Monster

2011-04-17T09:00:00.000+10:00

Here is our little guy, happy and smiling after eating chocolate pudding. We are a family of chocoholics, so it was only natural that Josh would follow suit.

The vast majority of the papers and embellishments on this layout are from -the Fine and Dandy collection by My Minds Eye.

Exceptions:

Brown letter stickers: Cosmo Cricket

Heart: Sorry don't know the make it was from a $2 shop

Laughter and So Adored tags - Old SEI

Journalling Tag - Echo Park

Pearls - Kaiser

More inspiration

2011-04-14T09:00:00.000+10:00

This time from here. Jackie always creates lovely cards but it was the last one in this post that caught my eye, just a card and stamping nothing extra required, yet so stylish. Quick and easy to make, just stamp, round the corners and it is ready to post off to the lucky recipient.

First card: Large flower - Daisy Bucket, small flower - Basic Grey

Second Card: Large flower - sorry, don't know, Small flower - Technique Tuesday.

Sentiments and the leaf stamp in the second card - Paper Trey Ink

I am Lauren, hear me roar

2011-04-11T10:20:00.000+10:00

This was Lauren's first year at school and during the summer they always have a fete and surprisingly for England they usually managed a sunny Saturday most years. This year was no exception and Lauren had a whale of a time and had her face painted. How cute does she look?

The lion punch art was from a template purchased on line from Jo Hope here

The papers are:

Collage Press (repeat pattern red), Daisy D (floral red) and Kaiser craft (floral green).

Shaped green journalling panel - Bo Bunny

Stickers - Bo Bunny

Border punch - Stampin Up

Letter stickers - Cosmo Cricket

CASED

2011-04-08T10:11:00.000+10:00

Here is a card that was totally inspired by Chat here. I just loved the blocks of colour behind the image. Chat makes fabulous cards, always clean and simple but so stylish.

Pucker Up buttercup

2011-04-05T09:35:00.000+10:00

Here is a rather bright layout of my oldest daughter Lauren when she was 2, playing with her best friend Claire. They were inseparable until they were almost 5, when sadly they went off to different schools. We still met each other regularly and of course as teenagers they kept in touch via the computer.

The flourish stamp is an old one by Collage Press

Glitter letters and heart and alphabet paper(very old) - Doodlebug

Small letter stickers - My little shoebox

Border punch, crochet flowers and shaped journalling panel - Stampin Up

Leaf Die - Sizzix

Year 8 camp

2011-04-02T09:09:00.000+11:00

This is half of a double paged layout ( I don't feel I can show the other page because it has clear photos of Holly's friend and I don't have their permission to display them). I wanted you to see it because I just love the image of the boys wave jumping that Holly took, catching them in mid air. She had a great time and her group teacher turned out to be a lot of fun, despite Holly's reservations prior to the trip.

When is a Tea Towel not a Tea Towel?

2011-03-29T09:01:00.000+11:00

When it is a flower of course! My dear friend Christine brought me some rather pretty tea towels for my birthday, far to good to be used for drying up so I put them to more artistic use. Using Sizzix dies I created several large and some smaller flowers. They look beautiful, don't they?Watch out for them gracing a card or scrapbook page soon. I have plans for the rest of the tea towel material but will reveal that at a later date.

Leanne's birthday

2011-03-26T08:52:00.000+11:00

Another belated birthday blog entry for my dear friend Leanne, her birthday was the 16th March. here is the card and gift bag I made for her.

The "Birthday Girl" was cut on my Cricut. I have used Stampin Up Pear Pizazz and Concorde Crush for my colours. The green polka dot paper, butterflies and white tag dies are Stampin Up, Daisy Die - Sizzix. All stamps - Papertrey Ink.

Mural

2011-03-23T08:41:00.000+11:00

As part of my work with the bushfires, I have been helping collect photos from the local residents for a mural to showcase Toolangi and Castella during the fires and the regrowth and regeneration that have occurred since, as well as preparing for the exhibition. On 13th March the mural was unveiled to the community and a exhibition of the photos used to create the finished artwork were displayed. The artist, Janet Hayes has cleverly incorporated many images within the lyrebirds plumage and also blended several together to provide the backdrop. This photo really doesn't do it justice, there are so many things to see that each time you look at it you notice something new. The mural is approx 2.5 metres X 2 metres

It's my birthday

2011-03-20T08:28:00.002+11:00

This is a slightly belated blog entry as my birthday was actually 9th March, but never mind. These are the cards my dear crafty friends sent me. Kevin even got in on the act, now before you sit there opened mouthed in amazement at his talent, he didn't actually make it with his own fair hands. He did however ask my friend Christine for one to suit me as he said he knew I would prefer hand made to a mass produced one from a shop. Bless him.

All my cards from England have been very late to arrive, what ever is happening with the post over there. My Mum's took two and a half weeks to get to me and one my sister in law posted a month ago has yet to grace my mailbox!

For my presents, I bought some Stampin Up goodies I had been coveting for a while and have also made an embarrassingly large Paper Trey ink order which I will share with you when it arrives.

Colourful fungi

2011-02-17T09:00:00.001+11:00

I have been meaning to post this wonky picture for some time but then kept forgetting. Holly and I went up to Maroondah Park last year and took lots of photos of fungi ( my friend Christine will appreciate the subject matter) because we thought they were quite beautiful in their own way.

Cardstock - Stampin Up Crumbcake

PP - DCWV

Chipboard toadstool - Scrap FX (I think)

Pearls - Kaisercraft

Small Alphas - Cosmo Cricket

Another card for you

2011-02-14T09:00:00.000+11:00

I love this stamp, I have had it for ages but it never fails to please ( me that is, you may not share my view) when it graces a card. It is one of the beautifully detailed stamps from the now defunct PSX, any of you who have been stamping for more that 6 years will have heard of them. Such a shame!

Cardstock - Bazzill

Green paper - Stampin Up

Yellow - unknown

Sentiment - a peel off coloured with permanent marker

Paris

2011-02-11T09:00:00.000+11:00

Here is a layout I did for Holly who has dreams of travel. Paris had been her ultimate destination for sometime. She loves the architecture and can't wait to capture it all on, I was going to say film but I suppose it should be card these days. The paper is another of the embossed white papers from Stampin Up and this time I have sponged with inks rather than using chalk.
This beautiful paper is from Graphic 45, I just love the design and colours.
I stamped the tag with a variety of word and alphabet stamps. The word Travel and the compass are both Cloud 9 rub ons.
I painted the chipboard in a variety of greens and blues and then added a touch of light grey to highlight the edges.

With the fickle nature of youth I shouldn't have been surprised when Holly informed me on being shown the completed layout that she now wants to go to Rome not Paris!!

Playing with PTI

2011-02-08T10:20:00.004+11:00

I bought the Mat Stack 1 stamp set and die from Paper Trey Ink and have been having a bit of a play with them. I love PTI stamps as their images are always so well made and stamp beautifully. The first one I have teamed up with Stampin Up inks and card stock, as well as cutting the flower with their scallop circle punch from the packing paper that they include in copious amounts when you receive your goodies. I saw the flower technique on Judy May's blog (see Just Judy Designs in Blogs I visit in the sidebar) some time back. The top layer is stamped with a PTI image and the large pearl brad is from Kaisercraft.
This card incorporates some old Daisy D paper.

The border punch is Martha Stewart.

Leaves - PTI stamp.

The central sentiment is from an English company called Craftwork Cards.

Ribbon - American Crafts.

Ink and cardstock - Stampin Up
Finally:

Paper, cardstock and border punch - Stampin Up.

Flower and sentiment - Craftwork Cards.

Brad - Kaisercraft

Cycling World Championships

2011-01-25T08:46:00.000+11:00

Hi, this layout is from September/October 2010, Kevin and Lauren went down to Geelong for the Cycling World Championship Road Race. Lauren was keen to see all her sporting heroes up close. She was lucky enough to meet and have a photo with Nicole Cook from the UK (the lower of the two main circles photos) who is Womens Olympic Road race champion, British Womens Road Race champion and also has won the Womens World Road Racing championship and the Womens Tour de France and is ranked number one in the world. The other one was Rochelle Gilmore from Australia, she didn't race at Geelong because she was off to the Commonwealth games to compete where she won the Womens Road Race.

I have left the journalling tag empty for Lauren to fill with her memories of the day.

Just in "CASE"

2011-01-22T08:47:00.000+11:00

I saw this layout (see last picture in post) in either Creating Keepsakes or Scrapbooks etc, as these are the only two I get, and I was immediately drawn to the colours. Those of you who know me, know I am a "brights" girl. I just had to case it. I have changed the bottom of the layout slightly and included an overlay from Fancy Pants (quite an old one that has been languishing in my stash for some time). I just love it, so bright and cheerful.
My butterflies are different though, this one is from the cut and embosslet from Stampin Up, the antenna were the waste from a Martha Stewart border fan bunch.
This is from the large sizzix die from Stampin Up, which you can see I wired and beaded.
The same die was used here but with rhinestones.
Here is the original layout, I wish I could give the designer full credit but I cut layouts I like from magazines and put them on index cards in a box in my scraproom, organised by how many photos the layout uses and then pull them out when I need inspiration.

Happy to be me

2011-01-18T09:00:00.001+11:00

Holly took some photos of me on a recent walk, she was amazed when I scrapped them so quickly as there are very few pages of me in any of our scrapbooks as I am generally the photographer. I got to use another of my Stampin Up Christmas presents, the white crocheted doily. I had previously had a go at doing them myself (the larger pink one) but had never got around to incorporating them into any layout.
Here is a close up, I sewed a button(Doodlebug) on to the white doily and used a brad further up the stem. The felt flowers are from here, the paper flowers are all from Prima

The blue patterned paper is from Graphic 45 all the rest is Basic Grey.

Leaf stem- Kaiser craft, available here

And now for something completely different!

2011-01-15T09:00:00.000+11:00

Holly was particularly taken with an old pair of my floral shorts, being into all things vintage as she currently is. They were too small for her so I suggested we altered a pair of her denim shorts to incorporate some of the fabric, this got her thinking and after a trip to the local haberdashery shop this is what she came up with. Her design, my sewing!
We brought two other floral fabrics and she combined them into the patch design and the replacement pockets. All the fabric is hand sewn, it is difficult to use a machine on a finished article.
I sewed the patches on first with cotton thread and then went over them with embroidery thread to make them stand out
A little lace and a couple of button and the transformation was complete. Holly loves them.

Birthday girl

2011-01-12T09:00:00.000+11:00

Holly was 14 in October and this layout documents the day. Dinner out with friends, then the sooo inappropriately named "sleepover", pressie opening and breakfast. This was the first time the birthday dinner out was just Holly and her friends without parents (we ate elsewhere and then came back for the candle blowing). It all seems to be going so fast now, it feels like next to no time since she was 8, where have those intervening years gone? Before I know it, she will have left school and be pursuing her goals in life.

Spring is in the air

2011-01-09T09:00:00.002+11:00

Our garden was looking very colourful this spring and Holly was out and about with her camera capturing the beauty of it all and this is the resulting layout. Holly also has some really close up insect photos, this one with a particularly angry looking dragonfly,who knew they weren't that cute up close and personal, they always look so pretty when they are flying.

Life is a beach

2011-01-06T09:00:00.001+11:00

This is Holly and a friend on a recent trip to Phillip Island, it wasn't that warm but that didn't stop them playing in the surf. The papers, title and tickets are from Kaiser "Seaside" range, the orange tag is from Crafters Choice.

This one is for you Judy

2011-01-03T09:00:00.000+11:00

My friend Judy gave me a beautiful pack of white paper with embossed designs on by Stampin Up for part of my Christmas present along with a gold smooch spritz spray and this is what I have come up with. I traced lightly around where I wanted the tag (Basic Grey) and decorated chipboard shape, removed them and then spritzed more heavily around the edge of the tracing line and then lightly as I worked away from the line. I then dusted close to the line with gold shimmer chalk by Dovecraft and covered the rest of the page in a light dusting of coloured chalks to pick up the colours in the tag. I added the photo and a small tag with the date on and stamped "love is like a butterfly" on to the decorated chipboard. Using a cut and emboss die from Stampin Up I produced all the different sized butterflies and the adhered them to the page. In this photo you can't really see how it shimmers or the subtlety of the lighter chalking.
Here you can see a close up of the design showing through the spritzing and chalks. I had a great time working on the project and loved how you could alter the depth of the design by the heavy/light application of the chalks.

Team Viper Triathlon Club

2011-01-01T09:00:00.000+11:00

This was one of Lauren's last events before we left England in 2006. Unfortunately she wasn't placed but enjoyed the competition all the same, although she was 30 seconds late for her allotted start time which impacted on her placement. Lauren's wet suit wasn't a great fit and when a friend who couldn't compete offered her one at the last minute ( she being a very similar size to Lauren) Lauren decided to change. Her coach later wrote about it in the team newsletter, giving us all a laugh

"Lauren managed to turn up 30 seconds late for her start after not being sure which wet suit to wear (always a problem)!

He has his tools, I have mine!

2010-12-31T09:00:00.000+11:00

This is from our "Christmas in July" weekend in Tootgarook this year. A friend of mine has a holiday home there and a bunch of us go for a crafting weekend. Much food (for this read chocolate and other sweet goodies) is taken and consumed along with a little alcohol. Takeaways or eating out are the order of the day as we don't want to waste precious time cooking and cleaning up. Every surface is covered with all manner of crafter equipment and completed projects (growing as the weekend progresses). This year I managed to get quite a few Christmas cards made.

The poor old car groans when I pack up to go, taking everything apart from the kitchen sink, I have a large estate car (wagon for the non British readers) and every available bit of space is used, just as well I don't have to bring anyone else with me!

Brisbane

2010-12-28T09:00:00.000+11:00

This layout is from a trip to Queensland a couple of years back where we spent the day exploring Brisbane. It was winter time so the weather wasn't particularly warm, the previous day Kevin and Holly had braved White Water World, I had stayed fully clothed and just photographed the day, well someone has to, don't they!

Holly

2010-12-26T09:00:00.000+11:00

Here are two layouts of Holly at very different ages. What an angelic little face the top one is, where has that little girl gone? Now a very "grumpy teenager"!

Girly Girl -I just loved this paper as soon as I saw it and sought out a photo that would suit it, this layout went off to my Mum for her album. the photo was taken when Holly was eight by a friend of Mum's in their back garden.

School Camp layout - Holly had a fantastic time trying things she would never normally get to do, she thoroughly enjoyed the whole week, especially the evenings where everyone gathered together for supper, chatting about their day.

Girly Girl:

Paper - Prima

Chipboard Title - Scrapware

School Camp:

Rub On - Kaiser craft

Rhinestone flourish - Prima

Overlay - Daisy D's

Camp sticker - Jolees

Laughter phrase - Sara Books Hot of the Press

Journalling square - Bella Scrapbooking

Small tag - Old one from my stash

Christmas Gift bags

2010-12-23T10:49:00.001+11:00

This is one of the reasons I have been so slow to post, I made about 25 of these bags for various friends and colleagues. Inside there were separate bags of home baked shortbread, gingerbread men and yummy fudge.

The main tag is the Top Note die from Stampin Up, scalloped circle also Stampin Up

Leaves, Berries, Holly, Swirl - Sizzix dies

Border punches various designs all EK Success

Greeting Circles - Craftwork Cards (a UK based company)

Embossing Folders - Cuttlebug

A post at last!

2010-12-22T09:41:00.002+11:00

Hold your breath, it's a new post! I have been busy making Xmas cards, pressies and such like and also scrapping but never seem to have the time to get it on the blog.

This was my birthday bash back in March, I thought as it will soon be birthday time again, I had better do this one first. Look at the dessert plate to share, truly scrumptious.

Photos

2010-10-25T20:06:00.003+11:00

Here are a couple of the photos Holly has taken recently, in the first one you can see Holly's camera reflected in the centre of the bubble. In the second one Holly has edited the background to black and white making the bubbles really stand out

Designer pad

2010-10-16T00:39:00.003+11:00

Here are the dogs, looking happy on a walk with Holly and pausing to catch their breath. The band around Caramel's nose is to stop her pulling when she is being walked, for a small dog she certainly has the strength to drag you along without it.
Here is the flash new kennel Kevin has built them, Holly has even stuck up photos inside to make them feel at home. Don't you love the wood shingles on the roof?
Here is Caramel given Kevin's handywork the once over to see if it meets her exacting standards, she obviously approves because she has been spending a lot of time in it.

Check out my other blog

2010-08-12T17:24:00.002+10:00

I have just posted a layout on my other blog, check it out here

Oops, she's done it again!!!!!!!!!

2010-07-22T17:27:00.003+10:00

For those of you who read my blog regularly (hopefully at least 5 of you) you will know that my oldest daughter is accident prone. Well today she decided she would make some delightful goodies for me to take away on a girls weekend I am off on tomorrow - she loves to cook. I had left the house to go to a meeting for work, had just arrived when I got the phone call "Mum, I have sliced through my finger can you come home please". Suffice to say, I dropped everything and headed back to be met at the door by Lauren, with said finger clad in paper towel. I took a quick look, fat and bone were showing so I looked away again just as quick. We went straight off to the Doctor where she had several stitches to close up the gash caused by a blender. This is the girl who is studying for a Uni degree in science but doesn't have the common sense to turn the blender off before she put her fingers in to clean out the sticky mixture. Don't worry girls the bloody mixture has been thrown away and I have cracked the whip and she is now back in the kitchen baking afresh so we won't miss out.

Lauren, bandaged finger and the offending blender.

Kevin's 50th birthday

2010-07-20T18:06:00.002+10:00

For Kevin's birthday we went up to Melbourne and looked around an old ship ( for that read, three bored females on the top deck looking at the goings on in the docks while Kevin toured every part of the ship in great detail). Mind you, seeing the tall ship dock, take on board passengers and leave again ( yes, he was that long) was quite entertaining. Then after that, we went for lunch, now the day was starting to improve. Then joy of joys it was the railway museum in the afternoon. However, we females bore this all with fortitude and a ready smile because it was after all his day. Love you sweetheart!!

Great Ocean Road

2010-07-17T08:26:00.002+10:00

Apologies for wonky picture taking!
Here is a three page layout of our trip (minus children) down the Great Ocean Road last November. I couldn't get everything I wanted on just two pages. We had a great time, relaxing over breakfast, reading the paper without someone saying "can we go now", strolling unhurried down the beach enjoying the scenery. Ahh Bliss!!

Young man

2010-07-15T18:27:00.002+10:00

Here is my Grandad as a very young man. He was born and brought up in Cornwall, England and was one of 17 children although only 13 survived childhood. His Father was a contractor on the building of the Great Western Railway and many of the children were born at various stations along the railway route.

Cherised

2010-07-14T08:12:00.004+10:00

Here is another black and white photo layout of my grandparents. The photo was probably taken on one of my Grandad's visits home from working in the Middle East. As well as the Dam I mentioned earlier, I have since found out he also worked in Iraq and some of the other Gulf States on the oil pipe laying contracts and on the Takoradi Harbour in Ghana.

The paper is My Minds Eye - So Sophie

Happy Birthday Lauren

2010-07-13T08:52:00.004+10:00

Lauren has reached the grand old age of 22 today. She has recovered from her accident but has had one injury after another ever since, which is depressing her. Instead of training on the bike and running she is now concentrating on building up some of her weaker muscles in the hope that this will prevent further injury. I certainly hope so. She starts her Uni exams this Thursday, she was supposed to have taken them in June but they allowed her to delay because of the headaches she was suffering after the accident which prevented her from studying.

Now a layout for you, this is my mother at about 8 or 9, I am not sure, which is why I have left the tag unfinished. Hopefully when Mum looks at the blog entry she will be able to tell me.

Stamps:

Leaves - Papetrey Ink

Script and grid - Kaisercraft

Flowers - Stampin Up

Frame - Prima

When I think of my Grandad

2010-06-01T17:40:00.003+10:00

This is my Grandad when he was much younger, as I mentioned earlier he travelled throughout the Middle East, working on big projects like the Aswan Dam in Egypt, he was a project manager for a big earthworks company in England. As a child my Mum remembers getting photos of her Dad standing at a foreign land mark holding a big board with Happy Birthday Hazel written on it for her birthday. She loved it when he came home because he would stay for several weeks before having to return. It is funny what you remember as a child, because of all the things we did together, the places we went etc, it is his pipe smoking that immediately springs to mind when I think of him. Another thing I remember is my Grandad showing me a picture of himself on a camel in front of the Sphinx, what I wouldn't give to scrap that photo, unfortunately no one knows where it is now.

Baby Face

2010-05-28T17:34:00.003+10:00

Having done a few layouts of Kevin as a child, I decided to do one of me with my Grandad. As the final grandchild I was spoiled rotten by my Maternal Grandparents. I spent a lot of time with them as a child because my Mum worked but I loved going to their house. My Nanna was a great cook, as well as seamstress for my dolls cloths and a fantastic story teller. My Grandad had travelled extensively in the Far East and had lots of little treasures dotted round the house that I loved to play with.

Daughter

2010-05-14T09:50:00.003+10:00

This is another layout with inspiration from Ingvild, this time in the form of one of her sketches. There is always such attention to detail in Ingvild's layouts which I have tried to emulate here, different from my normal style but it does you good to go out of your comfort zone every now and then.

Inspiration by Ingvild

2010-05-12T17:49:00.003+10:00

Today's inspiration came from a sketch by Ingvild Bolme - she of the most fantastically detailed scrapbooking I have ever seen. Here is the link http://www.ingvildbolme.com/2010/05/palette-4-from-color-room.html

This is Holly at 3, showing who ever was watching (we were in a restaurant at the time) just how princess's curtsey. Don't you just love their confidence at that age?

Ten things you never knew.

2010-05-11T08:03:00.003+10:00

Christine very kindly awarded me this award a week or so back and I have been having trouble thinking of ten things to tell you about me that you don't already know.

Well here goes:

1. I met my husband on a blind date, we have now been together 34 years.

2. I always wanted a horse when I was growing up

3. My daughter had a horse when she was growing up and I saw all the hard work it took and I am now glad my parents didn't give in to my whim.

4. I rode a tandem in a local carnival procession

5. I used to swim for my school in competitions ( I now hate swimming)

6. I have the actor Rob Lowe on home video as his son and mine were at a Thomas the Tank Engine day in Hampshire, England.

7. I won the Victoria Sponge cookery competition at my secondary school. I haven't cooked one since, how could I top that?

8. My one and only rock concert was to see Bruce Springsteen at Wembley Staduim, London.

9. I came to paper crafting when I was doing an interior design course and was sent to my local stamp shop for paint and a stamp to make my own curtain material. The rest as they say is history.

10. I have lead a very uneventful life because I can't think of a tenth thing to tell you.

Exercise is bad for your health!!!!!!!!!

2010-05-09T10:14:00.002+10:00

I hope all you Mum's out there are enjoying your day, I had a less than happy Mother's day Eve when I was phoned at approx 9.30am to say Lauren had been taken to hospital by ambulance having come off her bike, hang on, I hear you say, am I having a "deja vu" moment, I am sure I have read something on this blog about a bike accident before, the answer is yes you have, it was my husband that time. Beware People, bike riding is not conducive to good health, despite what the "experts" may tell you.

Apparently Lauren had been riding down the 1 in 20 on the Dandenongs and had to break suddenly (amnesia is keeping Lauren from remembering why) and the next thing she remembers is waking up on the tarmac and wondering where she, the ambulance was called by her training companions. Thankfully her skin wounds are superficial but she took a nasty bang to her head and the base of her spine - I think she must have somersaulted off the front of the bike, hit her head first and flipped onto her back. After initially arriving at the hospital seeming fairly compos mentis, she then became agitated and confused so they rushed her off for a head CT, thankfully that came back clear. Her main worry was, how is my bike (shades of her Father) and I should be revising for a big test at Uni on Tuesday.The Doctor kept her in hospital all day for observation, during which she slept most of the time, but she was let out last night. Today, she is nursing a very sore head and her neck is very stiff. The Doctor was lovely and he has written a letter to the Uni saying she won't be able to take the test as she will have trouble concentrating and the headaches are likely to persist for some time.

Backpacking visitor

2010-05-09T09:54:00.003+10:00

One of Lauren's old junior school friends has been travelling and has reached these shores, having travelled down the coast from Cairns, reached Melbourne on Monday. She saw Lauren at Uni on Tuesday and had dinner with her on Wednesday reminiscing about old times and catching up on what friends were doing now. Then on Friday Emily and her fellow backpacker Emma came to see me. I picked them up from the station and then went for coffee and a long chat and then at their request we toured some wineries. In one, the girl who served us had been to New Zealand (their next stop) and was telling them all the best places to go. The girls flew out to NZ yesterday and then last stop on their tour is Chile.

After the wineries we came home had dinner, chatting all the while and then it was off to the station for their trip back and an early night in readiness for the dawn flight. I was a little apprehensive, having not seen Emily for about four years and not really having time for any meaningful conversation since the girls parted after junior school and went to different secondary schools eight years ago, that we would struggle to find things to say, but no, it was like old times and there was barely a silent moment all day. Emily showed me pictures of girls I last saw when they were ten/eleven, needless to say I barely recognised them, Lauren however hasn't changed very much at all.

Sadly I didn't have the girls altogether to take a photo, so this one is just Emily and Holly.

Six of Six - Yay I made it!!!

2010-04-28T17:42:00.002+10:00

More hubby pics, the bottom one with two of his three sisters and his Dad and the top one, such a cute pic, I have no idea what he was up to, but whatever it was, he was prepared.

Five of six

2010-04-27T18:53:00.002+10:00

Sorry for the tardiness of this post, Christine prompted me for falling behind on my promise. Here are some B & W photos of my husband as a child. His Mum gave them to me many years ago and I am only just getting around to scrapping them. I have gone for a more clean and simple look as the photos are small and I didn't want to overwhelm them.

Four of six - Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-11T08:40:00.003+10:00

The search is on, with Holly locating the "loot" on the back of the car

This blur was me capturing the bun fight that ensued when the girls realised there was still an egg somewhere in the doona (duvet) cover.

It's not just birds who leave eggs in trees, so does the Easter bunny.

The girls with their cache of eggs, Holly looks like the cat who got the cream! For Lauren most of the fun was in the hunt, she only kept a few eggs for herself and gave the rest to Holly. Kevin mucked up one of the clues by coming across the eggs I had hidden in his shed and eating them before the girls could find them!!

Three of six

2010-04-10T09:59:00.003+10:00

Here are some of the little Easter pressies I made for friends, a simple milk carton box template was used and I added a tiled roof (with the aid of a scallop border punch) and gable ends.

Two of six

2010-04-09T09:57:00.003+10:00

Sorry about the wonky photography..again! I love this paper, so elegant.

The first one is very old friend I made in year one, on her wedding day, the next, Lauren posing in a new hat and matching gloves thinking she was the bees knees, and last me with my Dad. Sadly he passed away in 1999 and not a day goes by where I don't think about him. Nicknamed Uncle Chuckles by a family friend because of his ability to find so much in life amusing, his passing has left a big hole in our lives.

Welcome new follower

2010-04-09T09:46:00.002+10:00

Just a short post to say Hi to my new follower Sandie (are you a card maker, scrapper or both?), having reached the heady heights of four followers I am feeling very flattered. I am sure you have all seen those blogs with hundreds of followers, but I prefer quality of quantity (ha ha, who am I kidding, oh to be a blogging celebrity).Welcome to my little part of cyberspace.

One of six - Just for you Christine

2010-04-09T09:34:00.003+10:00

Here are the last of my Basic Grey Origins layouts. I still have paper left though, so you never know!

When out with friends last night I foolishly mentioned that having not blogged for so long I would upload six in quick succession, hence the title. I had a great time, stamping (not much) chatting ( a lot) and eating (more than I should have)...yes you have guessed it - chocolate goodies. We had a new addition to our regular little band, Christine's son Ethan, who is a delight. He quietly got on with his own cardmaking and the inking of his own arms - very attractive, and then gave us a little show and tell of all the cards he had made over the last few days, what a prolific little creative talent he is. That boy and his charm will go far.

Don't faint - it's a new post!!

2010-04-03T10:56:00.002+11:00

Two cards for you today, both made solely with Paper Trey ink stamps and coloured with copics.

I thought it was about time I put something else up!!

Kevin is feeling a lot better now, although sleeping is still a big problem, he just can't get in a position where it doesn't hurt. He is still too sore to return to work just yet. Lauren managed to fall off her bike too, during the recent wet weather on a tram track in Melbourne. Huge bruise on her leg and hurt her knee so badly she was unable to walk without pain for a week, so came home to be nursed and fed. She is also much better now and back at Uni.

I have organised an egg hunt for this weekend - Lauren's request (how old is she?) with written clues just to add to the fun (again Lauren's request). Pictures will appear later.

Have a great Easter.

He's home

2010-02-19T07:40:00.002+11:00

I went up to visit Kevin with the girls on Tuesday afternoon, we arrived there about 4.45 and were just walking in from the carpark when my phone rang. It was the hospital asking what time I was getting there because Kevin was waiting in the transit lounge to go home. "Why is he going home" I asked" he is still in so much pain". The lady on the other end didn't know (she was just admin staff), she assumed I had been phoned when the ward discharged him as he had been sitting waiting for me since ten in the morning. But no one had phoned, so poor old Kevin was sitting there all day waiting for us to arrive. He had no phone as I had taken it home to recharge and buy him some more credit.
Apparently they got him up first thing in the morning and told him if he could stand, he could go home because they were desperate for beds, he said he didn't feel well enough to go, but to no avail. He went to the bathroom and by the time he got back, they had changed the sheets and the next patient was just getting into his bed. They hadn't even given him time to clear his personal possessions. The journey home was very painful for him, especially as it was rush hour and it was stop/start most of the way.
They have sent him home with plenty of pills, but it is the facilities he is missing more, getting in and out of bed takes ages because he is having to support his own body, whereas in the hospital the bed rasied him up electrically. He is being very stoic about it though and not complaining but I can see the pain on his face.
We have had plenty of calls and emails from his cycling club friends wishing him well, one email in particular was very funny, although Kevin didn't appreciate it too much when I read it out because laughing and broken ribs are not a match made in heaven.
Of course the first thing he did when he got home was look at his bike and it is more damaged than first appeared to the untrained eye (i.e. mine) so he has been mentally totting up how much it is all going to cost to fix, a depressing thought!!

2010-02-15T23:31:00.002+11:00

Well here he is, thankfully without the neck brace. It turns out that the company the hospital outsources the xray reporting to, had lost Kevin's scans and xrays and that is why we waited so long. We have a the radiographer at the hospital to thank for finally getting to the truth. She refused to be fobbed off by the company and pestered them for ages until they admitted they had lost them and made them search through until they found them and then do the report immediately. The good news - the spine, pelvis and ankle are fine, but he has 3 broken ribs (each broken in two places - he obviously doesn't believe in doing things by halves), a broken shoulder and a punctured lung, plus some nasty abrasions.

He is likely to remain in hospital for a while yet as he can hardly move without extreme pain, just as well the bed raises electrically but even that he has to do in small increments because it hurts too much. I know he must be feeling bad because he still has the cream egg I brought him yesterday untouched. If you know Kevin, you would appreciate just how bad he must be feeling to be off his chocolate!!

He was complaining of being unable to shave, I would have offered but I fear I would have just added to his list of injuries.

The bike came out of the accident relatively unscathed, apart from mangled handle bars. When we came back from the hospital today, one of Lauren's lovely friends had left us a big dish of pasta bake that she had made for our dinner. What a sweetie!

Disaster strikes

2010-02-15T10:26:00.002+11:00

My husband Kevin had an accident on his bike during a race on Saturday, he is currently in The Royal Melbourne Hospital awaiting results from scans and xrays.

He has broken ribs, a punctured lung and broken shoulder, they are playing it safe and he is still wearing a neck brace because of possible spinal injuries although we think this unlikely as he can move his arms and legs. There is also the slight possibility of a broken pelvis and ankle, again we think this unlikely because he can move without pain.

Despite the fact he went in to hospital at 5.45pm on Saturday and had his scans and xrays about 10pm he is still as I type this at 10.30am Monday waiting for the results, which I think is appalling. I have had various reasons/excuses - too many traumas, computers not working, skeleton staff because of the weekend - for the delay, but I think it is totally unacceptable.

I will keep you posted.

More school layouts

2010-02-10T18:55:00.002+11:00

Here are the other two Origin's layouts I promised you. To answer your question Christine, yes I did use most of it, so I went out and bought more!!
During her junior years Lauren's reports were peppered with comment like "must learn to moderate her views in light of discussion", "needs to be more appreciative of the contribution of others". Lauren always saw things in black and white and it was her way or the highway. As I said in the previous post she was always loud, she was also forthright, she did learn that others sometimes have something valueable to add but she didn't suffer fools gladly and her inability to hold back on her own views did lead to her have the unenviable title in her year book when leaving secondary school as - Person with least tact. It makes a mother proud!!!

The double layout is of my younger daughter Holly when she left her junior school in England to move here. This layout uses the PaperTrey Ink stamp set - Friends til the end. Holly was a much more easy going character who didn't make waves, which made the end of year reports a little less "interesting" to read.

School Days

2010-02-09T09:27:00.002+11:00

Here are a few school layouts of Lauren, the papers in both are from Basic Grey's Origins line, which I absolutely love. I was round at Claire's for a stamp night and she showed us this fab paper and the layouts she had done with it and that was it, the day after next I was at the shop buying it all up, unfortunately the shop had sold out of lots of the smaller embellishments, not that that deterred me, I tracked down what I wanted elsewhere. It all just matched perfectly with the not particularly flattering school uniform colours. I have done two other school layouts for years 4 and 6 which I will put up later. Lauren is at Uni now so these are a bit of a blast from the past. Don't be fooled by the innocent looking unsure face in the year 1 layout, Lauren was brim full of confidence and so competitive, always had to be first to finish her work (even if it meant it was rushed) always first to get in line ( the teacher knew this and would often lead the line out from the rear, much toLauren's annoyance) or the first to volunteer when the teacher asked. It was a good school though where they nurtured her talents and directed her competitiveness into her work. She was full of life and for the most part loud. I had to laugh when her Head teacher was chatting to me one day he said"I never need to ask where Lauren is, I can always hear her"Only as she progressed through High School did she quieten down.

So young

2010-01-24T08:45:00.004+11:00

Now you can tell how old this photo is because Kevin has hair, well a bit anyway, he never was over endowed with the stuff! We just look so young, compared to how old we are now, Kevin has only got a few days to go until his 50th birthday. We look happy but we didn't enjoy the holiday that much and couldn't wait to come home. The weather was raining most of the first week and then when the sun came out it was so hot we got really burnt (no sunscreen in those days, rather you slathered oil on to get a tan) and ended up staying in our room for a few more days, we were so sore. There wasn't a huge amount to do/see there, we had done most of it during the rainy days and we like to be occupied, the beach is okay for a few days and then we are bored. But don't let me put you off, plenty of other people think it is great. I am sure with such a passage of time that more touristy venues have been opened too.

Everything on the layout is Kaiser except the large scalloped circle which is Crate paper.

At last it's finished

2010-01-21T18:50:00.006+11:00

I started this layout whilst away for the weekend with my scrapping/card making friends last July, I finally finished it a few weeks ago, I love these Kaiser papers, so bright and colourful

All papers and embellishments Kaiser, with the exception of the "Life's a beach" surf board, which is from Jolees and the thongs/flipflops which were in a button pack.

Need a babysitter?

2010-01-07T10:45:00.002+11:00

This is Holly posing with her school project - to look after an egg as if it is a real baby for three days. She was lovingly named Penny by Holly and was nurtured carefully to start with, until the novelty wore off. After neglecting (read smashing, dropping, cracking and then covering with sellotape) two "Babies" in less than two days, the school declined to give her a third!!

Background paper - Prima, all other paper - My Little Shoebox
Large alpha stickers - (egg and baby) Basic Grey, "Penny" - American crafts
Small alpha stickers - My Little Shoebox

There is nothing like a friend

2010-01-05T10:22:00.002+11:00

I love the colours in this layout, blue is a real favourite of mine. This was Lauren aged 3 with her great friend Claire. The two little babies are Joshua (Lauren's brother) and David (Claire's brother). The tag at the top of the layout pulls up to reveal a large amount of hidden journalling.

All of the paper, round tags and flowers are from Scenic Route. The leaf sprays are stamps from Paper Trey Ink, as are the sentiments. Rub on letters from Doodlebug

You can't keep a good girl down

2010-01-05T10:08:00.003+11:00

This is Lauren, after surgery, she is supposed to be resting but I can't keep her out of the kitchen, she loves to cook as my stamping buddies will tell you, her fudge and shortbread are very scrummy. She is not allowed to put any weight on the feet, therefore she is confined to a wheelchair until such time as the surgeon feels they are ready.

Poor old Lauren has been unable to walk very well for months and this last month she has more or less been confined to the house. Back in August after some training (she is a triathlete) she said her ankles were hurting and it has got steadily worse since then. When she was operated on, the surgeon found that the sheaths to both achilles tendons were actually stuck to the tendon itself, allowing little or no movement. He has delicately separated them and made incisions in the sheath to relieve the tightness and as the scar tissue grows across these incisions the sheath should increase in size.

You are amazing

2009-12-28T10:26:00.002+11:00

This layout of Holly is about her dream of becoming a photographer. She does have a talent for it and has taken some great shots from unusual aspects and angles.

Close up of the title - Daisy D rub on

Back of the tag, which is hidden behind the quotes.

All the paper and clock brad is by Kaisercraft, Butterfly stamp- Stampin Up, Rose stickers-Kay and Co, Quotes - Hot of the press

Tag - Basic Grey, Dream rub on - Junkitz

Celebrating friendship

2009-12-27T10:05:00.003+11:00

Here is the layout of the Christmas celebration I had with my stamping buddies. A clean and simple layout so that you focus on the photos and it also meant I was able to use four large photos rather than smaller ones.

The friends sticker is an old Bo Bunny one and I am not sure what brand the paper is, letters cut out using the Cricut.

Oh Wattle Night

2009-12-24T08:36:00.002+11:00

This is me with my stamping buddies, (left to right) me, Christine, Claire, Leanne and Judy. We had a great time at the Wattleseed restaurant in Healesville, the food was fab, the company was great, wonderful friends with a love of crafting in common and the table was festooned with gifts in packaging we had made for each other. What better way to spend an evening.

This will be my last post until after Christmas, so I will take this opportunity to wish you and yours the very best for Christmas and the New Year.

Santa is probably readying his sleigh as I type, I hope you have all been good!!

Lucky old me

2009-12-22T09:42:00.003+11:00

Here are all the goodies that I received from my stamping buddies plus their beautiful cards.

Don't you just love this calendar that Judy made for us all?This fab card is from my friend Jackie in the UK (also a Paper Trey Ink addict) and a lovely necklace, which I have already worn, even though I should have waited until Christmas to open it.

Thank you all for the fun, the laughs and the friendship, I really do appreciate it.

It's that time of year

2009-12-19T10:24:00.002+11:00

My stamping group were meeting for our Christmas dinner last night and these were the little gifts I made. The larger packages (which are bulging) contain delicious homemade shortbread buscuits, made by my talented daughter Lauren. The smaller triangle boxes contain Lindt chocolates. Mmmm.

A closer look. All the stamped patterns were created using Paper Prey ink stamps.

These boxes containing their cards were created with my M & F Board (similar to a scor pal). The large leave stamp is Paper trey Ink, the small tag on the front is from - Stampin Up and the continuous pattern on the box wrapper was made using Rubber Stamp Tapestry peg stamps.

The card was made using a Holly Berry House medallion stamp

A side view of the card.

I came home laden with pressies, mostly food. I will show you those in the next blog entry. The table was covered with hand stamped goodies we had made each other. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera to the dinner, Claire however was more organised , so when I get a copy of her photos I will post those too.

Christmas treats

2009-12-11T18:50:00.003+11:00

Lauren has been trying to make some money to buy Christmas presents by making fudge and selling it at her church. She has had to give up the waitressing because of the tendon problem. I have been helping her with the presentation by making these little decorative holders for the fudge, together we have made 40 of them, she already has orders for 28, a few are presents for friends, so she is hoping to sell the rest. Lauren has decided she doesn't follow in her mothers footsteps and paper crafting is definitely not her thing.

3rd place, well done Lauren

2009-12-11T18:38:00.003+11:00

Lauren did her first open water swim at Mornington last weekend, it was 1.2km and she came third!! I am so pleased for her, the triathlon training has had to take a back step with her Achilles tendon problems, she has been hobbling round since August and has seen doctors, physios, sports therapists,a sports podiatrist, you name it and she has seen them. At last we have a diagnosis, acute inflammation of the tendon sheaths and as treatment has not helped, she is going to need an operation. So swimming, without using her legs has been the only training she has been able to do, not one to be put off competing, she decided to do this, just for the fun of it, not expecting to come anywhere, so no one was more delighted with the result than Lauren.

About time!!!

2009-12-11T18:28:00.004+11:00

I know that is what you are saying. Where has she been? Does she have better things to do than update her blog? Sadly yes, I do, not better things, just things that need to be done and when I have done them I don't feel like blogging, just want to veg out in front of the TV.

Suffice to say, I have returned to blogger land, with a few posts.

Don't you just love this rainbow picture? It almost looks like a painting, Holly took it last night during a break in the rain.

Oh no, not a teenager!!

2009-10-04T11:23:00.002+11:00

Yes, it has finally happened my baby girl has become a teenager. She was officially 13 yesterday. This was celebrated with a sleepover for 8 giggly girls, who all came in fancy dress. All things considered it went well, they were still up watching videos and chatting at 12am, thankfully they didn't keep us awake but according to them didn't really settle until 3am. At 9 o'clock they were all awake, I wouldn't go as far as to say wide awake!! No one wanted breakfast, so they all headed outside, climbing trees and generally running around having fun, only to return very hungry at 10 and ready to eat.
I can't say that being thirteen will make much difference as my darling daughter has been displaying teenage behaviour for about a year now, she definitely has the DIVA in her sometimes. Oh joy only another 7 teen years to go.
Photos to follow soon

Raspberry Suite Colour Challenge 17

2009-10-04T11:14:00.003+11:00

The colours for this challenge were, red, aqua, cream, chocolate and kraft. I used Hero Arts Antique flower back ground, stamping red on aqua and Cuttlebug Damask embossing folder on kraft for the base of the card. I used SU scallop border punch for the red scallops, the strip above is from SU Christmas paper. The sentiment stamp and scallop oval punch are from SU and the flowers are In Bloom by Paper Trey Ink.

My new favourite

2009-10-03T20:03:00.005+10:00

I have found a new choc to share with you, this one is really scrummy, much better than Aero. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed. My oldest Lauren, tells me I am suffering the same problem as her - OCD. Obsessive Chocolate Disorder!! I am sure I am not alone, there must be plenty more of you out there!! Let me know your favourites.

Getting ready for Christmas

2009-10-03T19:53:00.002+10:00

Here are a few of this weeks creations. All of the paper and ribbon is Stampin Up. The layout is Lauren my oldest (now 21) posing in front of our tree, just wishing it were Christmas day and she could be opening all her pressies. She was very much an open one present, toss it to the side and open the next, kind of girl. So unlike Josh who would open his presents one at a time and then play with them, he could make Christmas last for days.

My new neighbours

2009-10-03T19:38:00.003+10:00

Aren't they cute? They have taken up residency in our dam and make frequent trips around the garden, much to our delight. The parents are so protective especially when our dogs start barking at them. Don't worry the dogs are safely behind a fence and can't get to them!!